Many flexible electronic products, such as E-paper and flexible display, have been developed along with the increasing demand for small-sized and light-weighted electronic products. The flexibility of such electronic products allows them to be applied to many more different fields.
In existing display techniques, a display panel and external printed circuit board (PCB) are usually connected through the tape automated bonding (TAB), the chip on glass (COG), or the chip on film (COF) technique by thermal bonding with anisotropic conductive film (ACF). FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a display panel and two external PCB connected through the TAB technique or the COF technique. Referring to FIG. 1, a display region 110 and a non-display region 120 are arranged on the display panel 100. The display panel 100 is connected to an external PCB 140 through a COF unit 130 so that a circuit 150 (for example, a data line or scan line circuit for providing pixel signals) on the display panel 100 can be electrically connected to the external PCB 140 through the COF 130.
In another display technique, a display panel with driver ICs is provided, wherein the driver ICs may be built in the panel through a system on panel (SOP) technique, or a driver IC chip may be bonded to the panel through a chip on panel (COP) technique. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a display panel and an external PCB connected through the COP technique. Referring to FIG. 2, a display region 210 and a non-display region 220 are arranged on the display panel 200. The display panel 200 is connected to an external PCB 240 through a flexible printed circuit (FPC) 230. At least one driver IC 260 is disposed in the non-display region 220 of the display panel 200 through the COP technique, and a plurality of connective lines 250 for supplying signals or power is connected to the external PCB 240 through the FPC 230.
The structures described above, ether in COF or FPC example, both have a similar feature in which an additional flexible substrate other than that of the display panel is adopted and bonded onto the display panel in order to transmit electrical signals from external PCB to the display panel. Accordingly, the fabricating process is complicated and time-consuming, and the display panel is difficult to be replaced once it is bonded.